I forget the exact details, but I believe the expression dates from the 18th century and a period of rivalry between two London theatre impresarios, where one had built up expectation in the public breast regarding special sound effects to be featured in the opening night of a new opera, only to have his rival use them first after dastardly subornation of the sound effects artist.

I think it was a production of King Lear that had stolen the thunder, but a lot earlier than that... hmm, can't recall the details, think it was James Dennis who came up with the phrase - loudly protesting in the middle of the show!

See, I wouldn't have thought of that, because we say "micro-feesh" not "micro-fish". What are others' preferences? I wonder if this has to do with the presence of French in everyday life here in Canada. I suspect that whether you understand French or not it ends up affecting some things, like pronunciation!

Accorden ta me trusty Tedasaurus this is exactly what happened:As Maverick pinted out there was once a playwrite and critic be the name of John Dennis (1567 - 1734). Anyways, he invented a new method of stimulaten thunder claps on the stage. He used this new method in his play "Appius and Virgina" (who, btw, was nick-named Virgin fer short - but not fer long).

Well, ta cut a long story short - wasn't the play a bit of a flop. A while later when Mr Dennis was looken at a perforemince of "Macbeth" didn't he notice that they had used an improved version of his thunder effects.

With a fierce thunderous look flashen across his furious face he says, "Dam them! They will not let me play run, but they steal me thunder."

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